as i read the news di maria and reus is considering their options, whom the buyers maybe man utd and arsenal

liverpool also close to sign balotelli

 

shall we try to hi-jack reus or di maria?

Striker short of perfect but it's perfect for Jose and what he wants us to be.

Striker short of perfect but it's perfect for Jose and what he wants us to be.

doesnt consider any improvement?

for example if we got dimaria or reus, we can loan out salah and one of the midfielder like mvg

then our front line is far far more better than now

doesnt consider any improvement?

for example if we got dimaria or reus, we can loan out salah and one of the midfielder like mvg

then our front line is far far more better than now

Well they are unrealistic tbh.

We would need to move on two foreigners just to sign 1 player.

I honestly can't see anything happening other than Cech leavings sadly.

Schurrle-Hazard-Reus would be insanely good.

Striker short of perfect but it's perfect for Jose and what he wants us to be.

 

Jose has stated that this isnt the perfect squad but its strong enough for what we need to achieve. My opinion is we have the strongest First 11 I think we can realistically get, probably in the PL, possibly in Europe. I think if we get long term injuries to either Costa, Matic or Fabregas we will be looking at a pool of players who I reckon wouldnt get into another top 4 team, Drogba, Torres, MvG, Mikel and Ramires. Old, unproven or not up to standard (Ramires  can be quality but I think he works better in a 3 man midfield or on the R AM position as a worker bee MvG looks exciting but is completely unproven)

 

The only problems we are really facing is;

1. Torres and Mikel are mid table players, on high wages and will be very difficult to sell, which is a problem with our squad size
2. A replacement of higher ability would cost a great and arent neccesarily available
3. We are seriously lacking in the HG quota, but the argument of which HG players would actually improve us rather than just fill a squad slot ala Sinclai and Rodwell
4. We possibly need one more veratile experienced defender who could play at full back (L) if needed

Truthfully, I think we havent got any real weaknesses, especially if we can coax even passable performances out of Torres and Drogba. The Cech/Courtois saga needs to end, either with Cech moving or the window closing.

Mourinho said himself after the Burnley game, no team is perfect.

I think ours is looking pretty good though.

Wouldn't say no to the Roma striker we've been linked with in the unlikely event that Torres leaves.

I'll tell you in May 2015

Jose has stated that this isnt the perfect squad but its strong enough for what we need to achieve. My opinion is we have the strongest First 11 I think we can realistically get, probably in the PL, possibly in Europe. I think if we get long term injuries to either Costa, Matic or Fabregas we will be looking at a pool of players who I reckon wouldnt get into another top 4 team, Drogba, Torres, MvG, Mikel and Ramires. Old, unproven or not up to standard (Ramires  can be quality but I think he works better in a 3 man midfield or on the R AM position as a worker bee MvG looks exciting but is completely unproven)

 

The only problems we are really facing is;

1. Torres and Mikel are mid table players, on high wages and will be very difficult to sell, which is a problem with our squad size
2. A replacement of higher ability would cost a great and arent neccesarily available
3. We are seriously lacking in the HG quota, but the argument of which HG players would actually improve us rather than just fill a squad slot ala Sinclai and Rodwell
4. We possibly need one more veratile experienced defender who could play at full back (L) if needed

Truthfully, I think we havent got any real weaknesses, especially if we can coax even passable performances out of Torres and Drogba. The Cech/Courtois saga needs to end, either with Cech moving or the window closing.

 

pretty much agree with most of this. While we do have depth, i do have concerns about the quality of that depth in key positions.

 

At CB we have backup from ivanovic, zouma and christensen - two of whom are unproven, one of said unproven players looked ropey as f**k pre-season with his positional awareness being a concern. not doubting zouma's talent, but were he to be named in the starting 11 in a key clash against one of our top 4 rivals in the event of injuries, I would not feel confident.

 

At LB we have a RB as backup. Or Ake - who is basically a utility player who can be used in a multitude of positions.

 

In CM, as you say, our options are mediocre. Rambo is definitely best in a 4-3-3. Mikel is Mikel and MvG is an unknown quantity.

 

AM we are stocked. Willian and Salah are good options to come off the bench / be rotated with, what I would imagine would be, our three of Schurrle, Oscar, Hazard.

 

Our striking backup issues are well documented.

 

Obviously it would take a horrendous run of injuries throughout the squad to leave us exposed in each of these positions, but my point is that while our first 11 is probably about as close to perfect as we could hope for, beyond that there are quality issues. Injury / suspension is inevitable throughout the season, so it will be interesting to see how we respond.

Edited August 22, 201411 yr by CFC_RFC_TID!

I'd prefer us not to sign 'squad' players in positions we have homegrown potential.

Centre back we will hopefully start bloodied christiensen, and although zouma has looked a little shaky, he is 4th choice behind terry, Cahill, and Ivanovic.

Centre midfield I'm pretty happy with, ramires and mikel are decent back up options, and hopefully mvg will get the opportunity to develop, as I think he will be better than both of them. We've got baker, chalobah, and ake who could also fill the homegrown gaps in a few years time.

The only area I think we could improve, without blocking our homegrown players, is centre forward. Out of the 3 strikers we have, only 1 is going to be here long term, and even if we signed another striker, bamford could be 3rd choice this time next year.

Stupid title IMO. No perfect squad's anywhere.

Our squad is one of the strongest in the league. Probably just behind City.

At CB we have backup from ivanovic, zouma and christensen - two of whom are unproven, one of said unproven players looked ropey as f**k pre-season with his positional awareness being a concern. not doubting zouma's talent, but were he to be named in the starting 11 in a key clash against one of our top 4 rivals in the event of injuries, I would not feel confident.

 

At LB we have a RB as backup. Or Ake - who is basically a utility player who can be used in a multitude of positions.

 

CB is a slight concern, especially if we lose one of Cahill or Terry for any significant time period. Both LB and RB being covered by Azpi isnt too bad but if we did lose Terry or Cahill we'd be down to no cover except our youth. Whilst I want to see them play, I dont think its good for player development to HAVE to play them for an extended run of games because you havent got the squad depth. Although there is a fine line between having too many players stopping talent coming through, hoistory tells us its not managers who have trouble developing players, its the willingness of the board to allow him the ability to fail and recover.

 

I'd prefer us not to sign 'squad' players in positions we have homegrown potential.

 

Absolutely.As long as you have the minumum amount of cover to allow you to not be forced to play youth for extended periods.

I too would like our own youth taking the place of rotation players we buy like Salah, Moses, Marin, Atsu and the likes.

I know some of these are bought soley for sell on profit but we are going to face bigger problems once Terry and Cahill are done so that's two places that needs to be filled with homegrown players.

Stupid title IMO. No perfect squad's anywhere.

Our squad is one of the strongest in the league. Probably just behind City.

I don't think it's a stupid title, just a little naive. You're right about perfection though. It might be something to aim at, but in reality it doesn't exist, in football or anywhere else.

We just need a capable young second striker and possibly a top CB(If this is the season JT starts rapidly declining, our defence will be in trouble).  

Otherwise, our squad is very good. 

CB is a slight concern, especially if we lose one of Cahill or Terry for any significant time period. Both LB and RB being covered by Azpi isnt too bad but if we did lose Terry or Cahill we'd be down to no cover except our youth. 

 

Ivanovic would likely be the first choice who is fine, after that Zouma is hardly an inexperienced youngster.

We need a CB, more than a capable second striker, our midfield will pitch in a lot of goals, but we need a solid back up for our captain fantastic.

If we managed to get in a striker all my worries would go away. But i don't think we will because we would need to get rid of 2 just to bring one in and with 9 days to go, i can't see this much activity happening from us.

Edited August 23, 201411 yr by Scott Harris

Reus has a release clause between £20mil-£25mil I think that activates summer 2015, if he dosen't sign a new contract that is. It would be stupid if we didn't make an offer then, atm I don't see it happening though.

Our squad has the potential to win everything, it's not perfect but it's pretty balanced and solid all over now.

 

Signing Reus would probably mean the eventual departure of Oscar, would anyone be happy with that? Can't see him wanting to take up a back seat in our squad.

Our squad has the potential to win everything, it's not perfect but it's pretty balanced and solid all over now.

 

Signing Reus would probably mean the eventual departure of Oscar, would anyone be happy with that? Can't see him wanting to take up a back seat in our squad.

 

 

It depends on what happens this season, if Oscar or Willian continues their inconsistency for large periodes like last season, then I don't have a problem with it. Chelsea have room for atleast 4 top players covering the three attacking midfield positions though.

Edited August 23, 201411 yr by comtrend

Watching the replay of madrid vs atletico last night, I'm confident we could beat real. Atletico really could have got a few more goals if they had been a bit more ruthless (or had more quality) in the final third.